ROMANCE: Gone Cowboy Wild (THREESOMES, MENAGE, BBW Book 1) (2 page)

She cleared her throat. "Well, you're hired. Come in for a while. I made enough food for leftovers, so there should be plenty for all of us. She went back inside the house and placed the shotgun next to the door.

Both men followed. They'd never admit it aloud, but they liked a woman who could take care of herself. "Go wash up. The bathroom's beneath the stairs. I won't have dirty hands at my table, got that? If you have dirt under your nails, you won't get a plate until their clean."

Both nodded. She took down two plates and glasses while they cleaned their hands. When they came back, two plates of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn waited for them. With tall glasses of iced lemonade standing next to the plates, their stomachs rumbled for something more than jerky. She waited for them at the round kitchen table. The kitchen was painted a light green, and various Knick-knacks covered the walls. They sat down, and she held a hand out to each of them. "I do a silent prayer before each meal." They formed a circle with their hands and bowed their heads in prayer before she muttered a whispered "Amen."

The men choked down their food the second she let go of their hands. "Man this is good. Thank you Mrs. Jessi," Ricky said as he swallowed a forkful of mashed potatoes.

She nodded her head. "Just make sure to work good and hard on my ranch and you'll eat well. I like to cook and I like to eat, so you'll never have a bad meal from my kitchen. So what are your names?" Jessi played with her food more than she ate while she stared at the two young men.

"I'm Nash King and this is my cousin Ricky King."

"I take it your first cousins?"

"Our fathers were brothers."

She lifted a single red eyebrow. "Were?"

Both men stared down at their plates before clearing their throats. "Our fathers died in a stamped accident when we were ten."

"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss." She took a bite corn.

Nash shook his head. "Don't be, it's been fifteen years."

The three of them ate in silence for a while. Both men wondered if she truly was a widow since she still wore her wedding band, but neither felt welcomed to ask her such a personal question. Neither could deny they had an attraction to her. She was blunt, beautiful, and she could cook almost as well as their granny.

"So why are you out here looking for work? You don't seem like you're from around here."

Ricky finished off a chicken thigh before he said, "We aren't. We live further East of here, but we came out here for work because it pays better. We're earning money for our Granny to live off of for the winter. She's too old to work for herself anymore. She raised us, so it's only right that we pay back some of her kindness."

Jessi nodded and took a sip of lemonade. "That's mighty good of you. Not many would do that now a days."

"It's the least we can do to repay her," Nash said. He looked at her brown eyes. She glanced away from him and back down at her plate.

The rest of the dinner passed by easy enough, and soon she was showing them where they would sleep. Two cots in the hayloft of the barn. There was a simple pillow and quilt for each of them. An oil powered space heater sat between them. The guys threw down their duffel bags and gave her a nod. "Thank you, Jessi," they said at once.

She laughed at them, but gave a nod of her head. See you both at dawn for breakfast. I let the cattle out onto the pasture then and scrap out the stalls and such after that."

They nodded. She left and after their boots were off, they both fell asleep in an instant. The cattle below them and the smell of manure never fazed them one bit.

The first week of work passed in a blur, meals and chores. The woman knew how to work and was not afraid to get dirty or sweat. They found even more reasons to like her. They had yet to hear anything about her husband, but both could see her as the perfect wife. One night, Nash decided to voice his desire to court her while they lied in their cots, listening to the cattle make noise below them.

"I like her. She'd make a good wife."

Ricky laughed into the darkness. "I agree. Big women always make better wives. Do we have to fight over her?"

"We don't even know if we can. She still wears a wedding' ring."

"Have you seen a husband walkin' ‘round here? What kinda man would leave a woman like her alone for this long? The war’s been over for a year now. He wouldn't’ve been gone for that long after it."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"Damn straight I am. So do we need to have a fist fight over her?"

"Why don't we let her choose? Whoever can woo her first will have her."

"You know I always win these types of bets, right?"

"You've never been against me with this kinda bet."

"What about Hannah Jenkins in the sixth grade before we dropped out? I got her to kiss me first."

Nash scoffed. "She doesn't count. We were only twelve. Now we're men. The true game starts now."

Ricky spit into his hand and leaned out of his cot to shake Nash's hand. "You got a deal, cousin. Whoever gets her first will be able to ask her to be their wife."

"What about Granny?"

"The loser will go back and take care of her."

"Right, of course."

Wanting It Bad

The next day, they were both on their game. Both had gotten up before her and started to prepare a breakfast of French toast, bacon, sausage, and scrambled eggs. Not many men their age could say they knew how to cook those foods to perfection, but their Granny always said a true man knew how to get around the kitchen. That was the only way to get a true place in a girl’s heart, so she taught them everything she knew.

"What's all this?" Jessi asked as she walked into the kitchen. A simple blue robe hung off her shoulder. Her long nightgown showed more cleavage and her curvy figure than her normal dresses did. Her usual braid was missing; her fiery red hair fell in waves over her shoulders and to the middle of her back. Both men swallowed hard. Neither had seen her with her hair down before.

She pulled her robe closed when she met each of their stares.

“We decided to pay back your kindness for hirin’ us by fixin’ you some breakfast,” Ricky said as he tore off a corner of the French toast and put it to her lips. A flush redden her cheeks when she opened her mouth to accept the food.

Nash tried to calm his ire. Ricky always had that natural suave manner to him, but Nash knew he would have his chance soon.

She moaned with delight as she sat down at the table. “You didn’t need to do that, but thank you.” 

“It was nothin’,” Nash said, as he sat a plate down for her and a cup of dark, pressed coffee. She stared at the food for a long moment, before she closed her eyes and placed a hand over her mouth.

Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. Both men could tell instantly that they weren't tears of happiness. "Did we do something to upset you, Jessi?" Ricky took seat at the table next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She pulled away from him, as Nash took the other seat next to her. He knew better than to touch her, after seeing what she had done when Ricky had.

She shook her head, but the tears still fell. "I'm sorry. I'm not normally like this. I like what you did. It was a nice thought. But for a moment, when I woke up this morning, I thought he was back. My husband.  He would cook me breakfast in the morning his speciality was French toast.  For a second, I thought him dyin’ in the war had all been just a bad dream. To see you both down here this morning just threw me for a spin."

Nash could not help himself, as he reached up and brushed away one of her tears with the rough pad of his thumb.  She looked at him and blinked her chocolate orbs. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "I'm sorry for your loss," Nash said. "I can't imagine what it would be like to lose someone like that. I would fall apart. I don't know how you've ran this ranch by yourself. It's a good thing we're here to help you out."

She wiped away her tears and nodded. "It was hard, but I'll keep this ranch alive if it kills me. It's the last thing I have of him. We weren't able to have kids before he went away." Jessi sighed and looked down at her food. "This this really good, I'm impressed you two know how to create something like this. I had to teach him how to make French toast, before he got better than me at it." She laughed. "I'm sorry. Let's eat. I'm actually really hungry this morning. "

"Let us take care of all the chores today. You can relax in here and do whatever you want," Ricky said. "Let it be another gift from us."

Jessi shook her head as she finished taking a bite of egg. "I can't let you two do that."

"Don't worry about us. We work for you. It won't be hard," Nash said.

She looked at them both before smiling. "I have wanted to do some banking."

Ricky scooted a little closer to her, she didn't move away. "See, now you can have some time to do that. Leave the grunt work for us. We've proved we can run a ranch just fine."

She nodded. "That you have. Okay. Just for today."

Both men smiled and tucked into their breakfasts, they were starting to win her trust.

That same day, Ricky finished with his morning chores first and headed into the kitchen for something to drink. The sweet scent of baking chocolate met him at the screen door and he smiled. He could get used to coming home to the smell of baked goods and dinner. He stood at the screen door and watched Jessi. She didn't know he was there. Her hair pushed up into a messy bun. She had chosen a red dress that morning. A white apron made a cute white bow just above her round butt.

Under her breath, she hummed as she mixed brown batter in a bowl. He truly had never met a woman that took his breath away. Sure, he had the occasional romp in a tool shed, but those weren't the girls he took home to granny. Why had Jessi changed his world? He shook his head, not just his world but Nash's as well and he was more fussy when it came to his women, always had been. Now he was competing with his cousin to win her heart and he didn't want to lose, but the choice was hers.

He opened the door and she glanced over her shoulder at him. She smiled, her lips painted red, he hadn't seen her with lipstick before. He desperately wanted to put her on the table and kiss her senseless. "Hey, do you need something?" she asked.

"I finished mucking out the stalls and I need something to drink."

“Help yourself to the fridge." She pointed her batter-covered whisk at the object.

He smiled and grabbed a glass before he got some milk. He leaned his back against the counter near her. "It smells mighty good in here, Jessi."

She smiled. "Thank you, Ricky." 

"How does it taste?" he eyed the batter.

She glanced at him and her smile got a tad bit bigger. "Have a taste." She lifted the whisk up for him to lick.  He stared into her eyes as he leaned forward and took some of the batter into his mouth. She bit her lip. "Mmm," he groaned. “Delicious.”

A pink hue stained her cheeks as she reached up to wipe away and smear of chocolate off his lower lip. Before her thumb could move away, however, he grabbed it with his soft, plump lips and sucked it off. The pink hue turned to a red and she returned to the task at hand. It was at this point Ricky figured out that they would have to take it slow with her.

The summer weeks passed by faster than any of them foresaw. The cousins sent letters to their granny, both mentioning the wonderful girl they had found.

Every day the cousins grew closer to her and her to them. The sexual tension grew until it was thick enough to cut with a knife. She learned that Nash liked to read and eventually they all spent the hour after dinner reading aloud to one another.

None of them were ready for the night when every came to a head. A freak, torrential down pour hit the state and the three of them rushed around on their horses to carrel the cattle back into the barn. If they let them stay outside, the wet and cold would take more than a few of the cows. Jessi couldn’t afford to lose any of them.

By the grace of God, they were able to get them all into barn. Even though they were all soaked to the bone, they still had to unsaddle the horses and feed them. They had done some hard work and deserved it.

Adrenaline coursed through all their veins, but Ricky and Nash were feeling it the most. They were getting more and more competitive with winning her over, both wanting her more than anything they had ever wanted in their lives.

When Nash went to help Jessi with her saddle all Ricky saw was red. He wanted to be doing that for her. He wanted her to notice him too. He didn’t even fully know what he was doing when they walked out of the horse’s stall.  His fist went flying right into Nash’s cheek. He stumbled back and glared at his cousin. “What the hell did you do that for?” Nash yelled.

Ricky narrowed his eyes in return. “You know why.”

Nash ran at Ricky, hitting him in full force with his body. They fell to the concrete and rolled around, trying to get the upper hand. Fists and curse words flew.

“Stop it!” Jessi screamed. “What the hell has gotten into you two?” She began to sob, confused by their rash actions.

The sound of her crying broke them out of the rage and they stopped. They rushed to her side. “We’re sorry,” Nash said and rubbed her arm.

Ricky pushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear.  “The adrenaline just got to us.”

“It’s more than that. Tell me what else is going on. Now.”

More tears fell down her cheeks and neither man could bear to tell her what had caused them to give into their aggressive, primal urges.

“It’s stupid, really,” Nash said.